Palestinian opposition views confederation with Jordan as suspicious

The People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Hamas movement on Sunday refused the call advocated by Yasser Arafat to maintain a confederation with Jordan.

The People's Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, led by George Habash, described Arafat's announcement as a "suspicious project." Its official spokesman, Maher al-Taher, said in a statement that Arafat's statements came in the course of attempts made by the Palestinian government to escape its political bottleneck, which is increasing after the Palestinian authority had violated the "national rights of the Palestinian people."

The spokesman for Hamas, Ibrahim Ghousheh, stressed the movement's refusal of any confederation with Jordan under the Israeli occupation. In a press statement, Ghousheh added, "Occupation should be eliminated as a first step and then a referendum can be held for the Palestinian and Jordanian people in the form of unity the two peoples agree (on)."

He added that any sort of ties between the two peoples in the meantime is in the interest of "the Israeli enemy," Qatar News Agency reported.